Five Days Home

It's hard to believe we have only been home with Jackson for five days. I feel like he has always been here with us.
This little boy is amazing! He seems to be adjusting well. Some quick tidbits about JJ and our first days home......

**He is happy as can be during the day. He plays with toys, loves playing with his big sister, and can't get enough of our dog.


**Each day he becomes more and more comfortable with us and we see a little more of his personality. Today we heard playful screaming and little chants..."dada, dada, lala, lala" while he plays that we have never heard before.
**Today was the first day, I noticed he had no problem going from room to room without me being close to him. He ran all over the house today.
**Today he also loved the bath! I wish I had my camera with me to catch his splashing and playing. This is a huge turnaround from the terrified screams of the first bath and the others where KJ had to get in with him and quickly lather him up. So, we could get him out as quick as possible.
I think a lot of Gracie demonstrating and showing him things are all okay is helping out huge.
** He has the most infectious belly laugh that can be brought on by tickles or tosses in the air.
**He is quick to get used to something he is unsure of. For example, the chair we have at the table for eating and the car seat. He did not like being placed in either of these at first but, now it doesn't even phase him. He even pulls on his chair at the table and requests to be put in there. He loves to eat.


**He is now best buds with our dog. The first day we brought him home he was scared of him. But, that didn't last long. He finds him very funny and loves to pet him, grab him, scream at him...anything to make him move. He then mimics him, crawling on the floor or running around. I even caught JJ throwing his snacks on the floor purposely so our dog would lick them off the floor. JJ mimicked this too...laid down flat on his stomach and licked the snacks right off the floor. Of course, I quickly put a stop to this but, not before I got a really good laugh out of it.


**Again, he loves to eat and snack...all day...all the time. At his first pediatrician appt on Monday, he was 96th percentile for height and 20th percentile for weight... Cute little peanut!
**He will try anything we put in front of him. The only thing we've found that he doesn't like so far is scrambled eggs. We are mixing a lot of staples that he is used to (rice, dried seaweed, fruit, korean snacks) in with every meal but, he has no problem trying everything.
**He knows his name Jackson and "no no", of course. He can express himself and his wants very well with some pointing and a little "eh eh".
**He is busy and FAST. He often runs as fast as can across our floors and occasionally wipes out but, nothing phases him. One time he came running as fast as he could into the kitchen, tripped and hit the floor hard. He slid belly first across the floor, whimpered a bit, came in for a quick hug and then was off again.
**He's like this with a lot of things I expect him to cry about. Today, at the ped, he flinched but, didn't full out cry when he got a shot.
**He still wakes up quite a bit at night but, the past two nights he has needed very little consoling to go back to sleep. In his pre-flight report, his FM noted he wakes up twice a night and needs a bottle to fall back asleep. So, I don't think he's ever slept through the night. We'll get there one day but, are in no hurry....little adjustments here and there. (again only 5 days home but, he feels like he's been a part of us forever)


We know Jackson's Foster family loved every inch of this little boy and took such good care of him. This and his fantastic personality have everything to do with why he smiles and laughs so much. I will be forever grateful to them and continue to pray for them and their kind hearts every night.

May 14th ---Our Forever Family Day

We arrived home on Saturday morning about an hour before we took off on Saturday morning in Korea....weird how it works out that way. After a long and very emotional day on Friday, we all woke up ready to take on the flight. Jackson slept pretty good on Friday, the day had gotten the best of him. There are so many words and mixed emotions that come with that day. I'm not quite ready to post about it about it or rethink it yet but, hope to one day. I have read many blogs and heard from many families what to expect but, it's still almost indescribable.
From the time Jackson woke up that Saturday morning until it was bedtime, he did not full out cry once. That's right, not one full cry the entire 12 hour flight. There were times he was obviously scared and clung hard to us but, he would just whimper and squeeze us to get up. He feels more comfortable when he is holding on tight and we are walking with him or swaying back forth. He ate well on the plane and smiled often to the girl sitting next us. We were so happy to see Uncle Mark, Grammy and Gracie when we got off the plane. It was the best feeling to all finally be together!

We are on to night number two at home and Jackson had a good 3 hour stretch before waking, which is so great. The first night was rough ,as expected. A little better than our first night together though. He wakes up often, looks around to take it all in. Then when you are holding him, he pulls back and checks out your face. Almost like he just wants to be sure again who you are. It's very sweet but, heartbreaking at the same time. We know this is all normal and fully what we expect. So far, the days have been wonderful. He is happy and loves playing with his big sister.
Gracie also has been so great. She is such a good big sister and wants nothing more than to see Jackson happy.



Although, very tired and jet-lagged we were all so happy to be home and couldn't help hanging out to play and take in all the wonderful things that were waiting to welcome us home. We were so surprised to pull up to our home to see these. We are so thankful for all the gifts, the toys were quickly opened and spread around the house and big thanks to Aunt Lisa and family for fully stocking our fridge and freezer. It's so nice not to have to run out for those staples we'll need over the next few days.
We have the most amazing family and friends. Thank you so much to all the grandparents for going above and beyond for us this week and thank you to our friends and family who have done so much for us. We are so lucky to have you all!
You can tell from the video below Jackson didn't have any problem sharing his excitement with some balloons and his big sister.

First Night Together..

Some pictures of our first night/day together...
Getting ready to head to the airport and board the big blue plane again.

New Friends and Looking forward to tomorrow..

Post from yesterday...

We are now just waiting to head over to Eastern to pick up Jackson. We have about 2 ½ hours before we leave. That’s the beauty of waking up very early each morning. There is plenty of time to get everything done. Our Hotel here has been wonderful. I think I’ve said that a number of times but, they really have. Yesterday, KJ talked to them about bringing JJ back here today. They offered to move us up to the top floor which has very few guests and moved us into a larger room. That move helped us get organized and packed up. The room is now JJ ready.
This morning we’re doing some last minute prep, cutting up fruit JJ’s Foster Mother gave us for him, and just enjoying each other’s company.
Our last day/night out in Seoul was great, we walked around for a good part of the day just taking in the city. For dinner, we met another couple who works with our agency back home. They are also here picking up their first son. We met in front of the gate at Topgal Park and then headed out to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. The guys agreed they had had their share of Korean food and were ready for a steak. We found this so funny. They were in full agreement with each hoping the other was ready for a little change of pace with the food. Don’t get me wrong, we all LOVE Korean food, we were just ready for something different. I enjoyed some shrimp pasta and we all had a nice cold beer.
This meeting with our new friends was great. We talked about our journeys to this point and the days, months, years to come with our new families. We had so many thoughts in common and enjoyed great conversation. After dinner, Staci and Craig showed us where in the Insadong market that had bought their son’s hand carved name chop. A name chop is a traditional Korean seal. Instead of signing their names, Koreans stamp important documents with name name chop. We thought this was a great keepsake and wonderful souvenir to bring home for both of our children so, we had one made for Jackson and Gracie. We got to choose the stone and then watch as they hand carved their names in Korean into them.

Huge plus, the sun came out today. We’ve missed it 

Prayers Please

This may or may not be our last post before we head home on Saturday. Of course, tomorrow we are going to be a little busy entertaining our son.
Today’s meeting went fairly well. Jackson is shy and extremely attached to his Foster Family. He played with us for a short time but, wanted nothing more than to leave with his Foster Mother, who is simply amazing! She gave us another CD filled with pictures, bags of snacks she knows he likes, formula and his 1st birthday Hanbok. ….it’s beautiful. We took very few pictures this meeting because we really wanted to be down on the floor and hands on with him. He sat with just us for awhile playing with knobs and putting balls into a Disney toy. He’s very intelligent and cute as can be. He had to be in charge the whole time though and be sure his Foster Mother didn’t go far.
We have a quick request for everyone…
Please be patient with us as we transition at home and work together to help Jackson through his time of grieving.
Please understand we are going to play it by ear, go with the flow…all while trying to recover from jet lag and establish a new norm for our family. (routine is key ;) )
Although, we have wanted this for so long and have been preparing for this change, Jackson will have no idea what is happening to him. He will be taken away from everything he knows, everything that is familiar to him, and the only people he has ever known. We all knew his time with his foster family was temporary but, he has no idea.
We are ready to start this transition and do everything we can to make it go as smooth as possible. Please keep our sweet little guy and our Gracie in your prayers as we work to become a happy family of four. Thank you for all of your love and support!
We also ask that you pray for JJ’s foster family and all those who foster children. They love and care for these children all while knowing that one day they will have to send them on to their forever families.

Enjoying Seoul Some More..

Yesterday was another great day here in Seoul! The best part was knowing that tomorrow (today now) we get to see Jackson again for a few hours in the morning. We can’t wait!!!

To start off the day, we headed over to the Itaewon area. This is most westernized (Americanized) area we’ve seen so far. It is close to the US Army base and is known for shopping.

We walked up and down the main shopping street, stopping in quite a few shops. We came across some great finds. One of my favorites being a big plush Pororo for Jackson. We bought Gracie a Hello Kitty dressed in traditional Korean attire at the Insadong market yesterday (grandparents don’t tell her ;) ). So, we were really happy to find a cute matching snuggly animal for JJ today.


The shopping street and grabbing a diet coke..


We had some time to kill before our shuttle returned so; we walked around looking for an interesting place to have lunch. We ended up having our favorite Korean dish, bibimbap, at a trendy Korean restaurant just off the main shopping street. It was delicious, as always.

We do seem to be doing a lot of shopping and eating, huh?

From Itaewon we headed to the downtown business area. We had intentions to go to another market but, spotted the Deoksugung Palace. The Deoksugung Palace is smaller than the palace we saw yesterday but, just as interesting and so full of character. It is fascinating seeing this ancient palace right in the middle of large business buildings. All that tradition mixed in with business suits and Dunkin D*nuts....so interesting. The best part of the visit to this palace was our timing. We just happen to walk up right at what we thought was the charging of the guard.




As we were exiting, people were starting to gather with cameras outside the entrance to the palace. We weren’t sure what was going on at first and then saw the guards marching up the street followed by a full procession with instruments. We realized this was the full changing of the guard reenactment. We have a great video but, can't get it to upload. So here are some more pictures....

Enjoying Seoul

Yesterday we got in some great sightseeing. We've been waking up quite early, ready to go. But, have to wait until things get started. There doesn't seem to be many shops, marts, or even coffee shops that open early but, everything stays open late. This gives us some time to update the blog and get in some computer time.

Our hotel is great! Everyone speaks pretty good English and are more than gracious. The concierge almost laughs when we approach because we ask so many questions about getting around before we venture out. :)

We started out the day taking the Hotel Shuttle to a subway stop about six blocks away. Since it was raining, we decided to take the shuttle rather than walk. It's been raining pretty steadily since Monday afternoon but, luckily it's a light rain and we can still get out without getting soaked. We took the Subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace. This is a sprawling palace just on the edge of downtown Seoul. It's beautiful!



After walking around the palace for awhile, we decided we were going to walk over to Insadong, a nearby market. We knew it wasn't far but, it was quite humerous trying to find our way there. We just kept asking until we got there. Our last inquiry was at a nearby hotel. We finally found the entrance behind the "big brush"......ahhh the "big brush". We were so excited when we spotted it.

Insadong is an artsy neighborhood of Seoul that is known for it's huge market. It was pretty empty when we got there. I think because of the rain. By the time we left, the rain had let up a bit and it was packed. We shopped and just browsed around. The people were all so accomodating and welcoming. We stopped for coffee and then lunch after a few more hours of shopping.

This market seems to attract a young crowd. The tweens seem to like us American tourists (or maybe they are just laughing at us....ha! ) . They would wave, giggle, say "hi" or "hello" and then giggle some more as they ran away. We even had some older students ask us if they could interview us for their English class.

Here they are posing after KJ's interview.

After a great afternoon of shopping and taking in the culture, we walked back to the Subway and then walked back to the hotel for a short rest. We needed it after all that walking around.

Our next stop of the day was the Seoul Tower. This is a great sightseeing spot at the top of Namsan mountain. You can see all of Seoul from the tower...every direction for miles and miles. It's incredible.

On the gates and "lock trees" surrounding the tower, you'll find thousands of upon thousands of "love locks". People place locks on the gates symbolizing that they will never seperate.....locked in love forever. We knew about the locks and hoped to place one on the gate for our two children. Sadly, we didn't bring any locks with us. I guess we just assumed we could buy locks there but, couldn't find any. We hope to make it back to the tower but, not sure if we'll be able to.

One of the highlights of the tower, is the observation deck. That's located in the big dark circle you see near the top of the tower in the pictures.

Here are some pics from the deck...

While we were up in the tower, we decided to go ahead and have dinner in one of the restaurants located up in the sky :). We chose a great place that serves Italian cuisine...yes, Italian....although we love Korean food, it was nice to have something a little different. Pictures of this restaurant could not do it justice. So, we took a little video, you'll see below. Our tables were attached to the windows facing out to the amazing view the entire time.

After dinner, we headed down the tower and we're delighted to find it all lit up.....just beautiful!

It was really an amazing day.

We are saving all our pictures here. There are quite a few so, you probably don't want to bore yourself. But, if interested...feel free to check them out!